Yazılar

Google’s $32 Billion Acquisition of Wiz Faces U.S. Antitrust Review, Bloomberg Reports

/in /tarafından

The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing Google’s planned $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz to determine if the deal could unlawfully reduce competition in the marketplace, according to Bloomberg News citing sources familiar with the matter.

This acquisition would be Alphabet’s largest to date and aims to integrate Wiz into Google’s cloud division, bolstering its cybersecurity offerings for enterprise customers to manage critical risks.

Both Google and the DOJ declined to comment, and Wiz did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request. The deal reportedly gained momentum after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, amid expectations of a more favorable antitrust environment.

Executives at Wiz reportedly remained cautious following the collapse of Adobe’s $20 billion attempt to buy Figma due to antitrust challenges in late 2023. Google has agreed to pay Wiz over $3.2 billion if the deal fails to close.

Trump’s appointments of Andrew Ferguson as FTC chair and Gail Slater to oversee DOJ antitrust reviews reportedly increased confidence in a smoother regulatory process.

This scrutiny arrives as Google also faces ongoing DOJ lawsuits alleging monopoly abuses in online search and advertising technology markets. In April, a U.S. judge ruled Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in publisher ad servers and ad exchange markets.

Google Resolves Global Service Outage Affecting Multiple Platforms

/in /tarafından

Alphabet’s Google announced on Thursday that it had resolved a brief global outage that disrupted several of its core services, including Google Chat, Google Meet, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Cloud Search, Google Tasks, and Google Voice.

The disruption also impacted third-party platforms reliant on Google Cloud infrastructure, such as music streaming service Spotify and messaging app Discord, as well as Snapchat. The outage began around 1:50 p.m. ET and caused widespread service interruptions across multiple regions.

At the peak of the outage, tracking website Downdetector.com recorded approximately 46,000 outage reports for Spotify and nearly 11,000 reports for Discord in the U.S. alone. Google Cloud’s engineering teams worked swiftly to mitigate the issue, and by 6:18 p.m. ET, outage reports had significantly decreased to just over 1,000 for Spotify and around 200 for Discord.

Google stated it will publish a detailed analysis after completing an internal investigation into the incident.

Oracle Shares Hit Record High as AI Cloud Demand Boosts Revenue Outlook

/in /tarafından

Oracle shares surged 14% on Thursday, crossing the $200 mark for the first time, after the company raised its annual revenue forecast fueled by strong demand for its AI-related cloud services.

Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and warnings from analysts about potential impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Big Tech’s AI investments, confidence in the software sector remains robust.

Oracle recently announced a joint venture called Stargate aimed at providing large-scale computing power to OpenAI, positioning itself as a key player in AI infrastructure.

Michael Ashley Schulman, partner at Running Point Capital Advisors, described Oracle’s transformation as moving from a “stodgy” image to a “cloud-native mage” competing in a fiercely contested market.

For fiscal 2026, Oracle expects total revenue to reach at least $67 billion, according to CEO Safra Catz during a post-earnings call.

The company reported cloud services quarterly revenue growth of 14% to $11.7 billion, with overall revenue of $15.9 billion surpassing estimates of $15.59 billion. Following these results, at least nine brokerages have raised their price targets.

Oracle’s forward price-to-earnings ratio stands at 25.86, lower than rivals Microsoft’s 31.34 and Amazon’s 31.80. Year-to-date, Microsoft’s stock has risen 12.16%, while Amazon’s has fallen 2.8%.

Analysts at Piper Sandler noted that Oracle is experiencing a wave of enterprise popularity unseen since the internet boom of the late 1990s.

At the close, Oracle shares were trading at $201.38.